Shunt resistors are coupled in series with a conductor to measure the current flow through the conductor. The current flow through a shunt resistor generates a voltage that is proportional to the current flow. Measurement devices are coupled to the shunt resistor to measure the voltage across the shunt resistor and to provide an indication of the current flow through the conductor based on the generated voltage. Shunt resistors inherently cause a loss in the system in which they are coupled because they consume power when generating the voltage. Accordingly, the resistance values of shunt resistors are designed to be very low when they are used in situations where high current is measured.
Shunt resistors are typically made of a highly conductive metal, such as copper, to reduce the inherent loss of the shunt resistors. For example, a highly conductive shunt resistor, such as a copper shunt resistor, does not significantly alter the current flow in the system in which it is measuring current. However, one of the problems with a copper shunt resistor is the temperature coefficient of copper is approximately 4000 ppm/° C. Therefore, a temperature change of 100° C. changes the resistance of a copper shunt resistor by 40%. Accordingly, copper shunt resistors do not provide accurate current measurements when they are subjected to temperature changes.